


The Filibuster

by Omnessicfaciunt



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Political Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 08:38:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omnessicfaciunt/pseuds/Omnessicfaciunt
Summary: White House reporters and staffers alike are blindsided when Senator Jonzz begins a Friday night filibuster before a vote on a crucial student mental health bill. Kara (new White House correspondent), Alex (personal aide to the President), and Winn (deputy press secretary) share their night with loved ones via email. Lena saves the day and President Luthor has dinner with Cat Grant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Briefing Room - 6:00 pm Friday**

> Dear mom,
> 
> First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! Second of all, let me explain why we’re not on our way back to Midvale right now. You’re not going to believe this, but it’s because of a filibuster—and one the press corps never saw coming. In fact, no one saw it coming, not the Senate leadership, not the party leadership, and certainly not the White House. And if you’re mad at us, well, you’ve got a lot of company.
> 
> Maybe I should explain. Right now it’s Friday night and everyone is trying to get out the door for the holiday weekend—only Ms. Grant won’t let us leave…

**Oval Office - 6:10 pm Friday**

Alex Danvers stood like a statue in front of the TV in foyer of the oval office. An angry, gruesome gargoyle of a statue that looked capable of eating its young. She stood there, next to the secretary’s desk, scowling at the screen with nothing short of pure rage radiating from her person.

“This isn’t happening.” She said to no one in particular.

As she watched, the tall man center stage on the senate floor, Senator Jonn Jonzz from Washington State, continued his laborious reading of _Crime and Punishment_. Alex checked her watch for the third time that minute before digging her phone out of her pocket to call her sister.

“Kara Danvers speaking!” Her sister all but shouted into the phone. Alex pulled the phone away from her ear in a futile effort to preserve her hearing.

“Don’t you ever check the caller ID before you answer?” Alex asked.

“Sorry, I was too excited!” Kara said, “What’s the mood in the Oval?”

“Are you asking as a reporter or as my sister?”

She paused for a moment with her head cocked to the side before answering “Both.”

Kara never missed an opportunity to leverage her connections to the President’s personal aid, but Alex knew it was all in good fun. She wanted to be a cutthroat White House journalist, but she was simply too kind for that to ever be a reality.

Alex had been a secret service agent for the past four years—almost straight after medical school—before being asked by the President to be her personal aid. Apparently when you save the Senator of New York from a stray bullet, you get a hell of a raise when they get elected President of the United Sates. She wasn’t excited about working nearly 24/7 for a President who didn’t understand the concept of sleep, but at least she wasn’t being paid to stand in front of bullets anymore.

“The official White House statement is ‘This is democracy at work and it’s a beautiful sight.’ Off the record; what the hell is he still doing up there?”

“He’s reading a book.”

“Kara, did you know this was going to happen?” Alex whispered into the phone.

“No…” Kara hesitated, “you guys didn’t know this was going to happen either.” It wasn’t a question.

“We’re still off the record and no, we did not. How long is this going to last, Kara?”

“I don’t know, but it’s a pretty big book.” Kara said trying to make light of the situation.

“Did you call mom?”

“I called her at lunch because I thought we would just be delayed, but now Cat’s not letting any of us leave.”

While Alex could simply walk into the Oval and ask for some personal leave, her sister was a junior reporter and completely at the mercy of the notoriously difficult press secretary: Cat Grant.

“This can’t last forever, right? He’s got to be getting tired up there.” She was mere seconds away from starting one of her nervous rambles.

“Just hang in there, I’ll see if anyone knows what’s going on in here.” Alex said before hanging up the phone. She wanted to tap into her sister’s ever-present optimism, but one look at Senator Jonzz told her otherwise. This was going to be a very long night.

**Briefing Room - 6:30 pm Friday**

Kara Danvers sat down in her assigned theater-style seat before the blue and white podium. She had a pretty good seat for a Cat Co. reporter newly assigned to the White House Press Corps, but perhaps that’s just because Washington’s the type of place where it’s not what you know so much as who you know. The best part of her third row, two from the aisle seat was that it was only one row and two seats away from a certain Daily Planet reporter with the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. Seeing as the girl was otherwise engaged, she continued drafting her email as the press milled about the room:

> The reason Ms. Grant needs us to stick around is that the moment the filibuster’s over, there will be a vote and once they vote, she’ll need her spin boys (that’s what she calls all the reporters, Mom). Why does she need to spin this vote? Because it’s a bipartisan bill and, as I’m sure you’ve heard from Alex, this administration’s all about bipartisanship so long as they get the credit. So Ms. Grant has taken the press corps hostage.

Kara was shaken from her thoughts by a hand waving in front of her face.

“Kara, did you hear me?”

“I’m sorry Miss Luthor, I was lost in my own thoughts,” Kara said as she looked into those deep emerald eyes.

“You can call me Lena, you know,” she said with a chuckle, “I’ve only eaten lunch with you every day for the past month.”

“I know, it’s just a habit.”

“I was just trying to offer you some pot stickers. I had Chinese delivered and got an extra order for you.”

“Wow, thank you so much!” Kara exclaimed while her stomach let out a distinct rumble. “I guess I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

Lena gave her one of those million dollar smiles that made Kara’s heart skip a beat, but before either got to say anything else on the matter they were distracted by a commotion by the podium.

Cat Grant, the White House Press Secretary, had swept into the room and onto the stage to completely dominate the podium. Kara had been her personal assistant for two years right after college, but the media mogul was quickly swept into the realm of politics when the president called her to action. And what could someone even as powerful as Cat Grant say to the president other than “I serve at the pleasure of the president”?

The room erupted into chaos as everyone tried to get Cat’s attention.

“I don’t know what to tell you all except; you’re looking at democracy in action and it’s a beautiful thing.”

“And how much more _beauty_ can we be expecting tonight, Ms. Grant?” asked a balding man with a permanent scowl on his face.

“I wouldn’t think it’s be that much longer, Mr. Carr.”

“He’s reading Dostoyevsky.”

“Yes, well, since I’m sure none of you actually read the book in high school you should thank Mr. Jonzz for enlightening you.”

The reporters started to call her name again, but she cut them off before it got too out of hand.

“Listen up! This was obviously unforeseen, but he’s got to finish eventually. When he’s done there will be a vote, the bill will pass, and the President will make her calls. The White House staff will be available for comment and you will all write about it. Most importantly, we will all go home for some cold turkey sandwiches.”

After the groaning and complaining calmed, Cat answered a few more questions without actually saying anything new before stepping off the stage and leaving the room as quickly as she had entered.

> So, Mom, I’m stuck with the reporters in the briefing room and Alex is stuck in the West Wing with the President. I’m betting when you read this, you’re going to be glad we stayed. I’m betting you’re going to end up rooting for a Washington Senator named Jonn Jonzz because I’ve got to be honest… this doesn’t seem like any old filibuster.

**Briefing Room - 7:00 pm Friday**

> It’s my first filibuster, and I’m not a rules expert, but the rules of a filibuster seem simple enough from what I’ve gotten out of Winn—he’s Ms. Grant’s senior assistant by the way. He likes to teach me things because I’m so new, but he also likes to eat lunch with us.
> 
> Anyway, in a filibuster you keep the floor as long as you hold the floor. What’s that mean? It means you can’t sit or lean against anyone or anything, and you also can’t leave to use the bathroom. The worst part is this; you’re not allowed to eat or drink anything. Winn thinks I’d be dead by the second hour because I couldn’t possibly _not_ eat anything.
> 
> This all started with a bill you’ll read about tomorrow morning called the Safer Student’s Bill. Winn had been talking to Lena and I over lunch about the bill for weeks, but on Monday they had finally got it worked out…

**Cafeteria - 1:00 pm Monday**

Kara and Lena had just settled into their seats in the White House cafeteria when Winn came barreling up to them.

“We got the Safer Student’s Bill!” He was so excited that when he put his tray on the table that his drink fell over and drenched his burger and fries in a fine glaze of orange soda.

“It’s done?” asked Lena. They had been covering the bill on and off for the past week, but this was the first time Winn had been so forthcoming with information.

“Yes,” he said, “and _that_ is the only lunch comment allowed on the record.”

“So off the record, what did you guys get?” Kara asked.

“Well, there’s a free hearing test in kindergarten for every child born in the United States.”

“What about—?” Lena tried to cut in, but Winn anticipated.

“We did not get free tests for immigrants, but they’re still elective and not that pricey.”

“That’s understandable.” Kara said as she moved on to her second slice of pizza.

“And the Foster Child Awareness program?” Lena asked. This was a very small part of the bill, but it hit a little too close to home for Lena and Kara considering they had both been adopted.

“Right, so this is the program to provide…” Winn pulled out a tablet and began scrolling and searching through various documents before he found the page he was looking for. “Here it is. Optional psychological therapy to children in the foster system before, during, and after they’ve been placed with a family. We got it, but they had to give something else away…and I don’t think you’re gonna like it.”

Lena paled considerably and asked, “Don’t tell me they gave up proper sex education in the schools. There are numerous studies that show just how inadequate those abstinent-only programs are at lowering the rate of teenage pregnancy.”

“No, god no. The only thing we lost there was no condoms distributed in public schools.” said Winn, “but they had to agree to a provision requiring health care staff to give pregnant women information about adoption on an equal basis with all other courses of action.”

“The National Organization for Women is going to make this an issue.” Kara said.

“I know, but I think it was worth it to get the therapy funding.”

Lena nodded her head and went back to her lunch with a small smile on her face. Although Lena had been adopted at a young age, she made no secret of the fact that her adoptive family was difficult to get used to—she once told Kara that she still didn’t feel like she belonged. On the flip side, Kara herself spent years in the system waiting for a family to find her and definitely could’ve used the therapy while living in the group homes. At least they managed to find a way to save future kids from the same trials they faced.

“Um… I hate to ask, but when we _can_ go on the record with this, you guys are gonna help us out, right?”

“Of course, Winn,” Kara placed a hand on his soldier to reassure him.

“We will once again betray the sisterhood simply because you asked so nicely.” Lena joked, but Winn was all smiles.

He didn’t have much sway with the West Wing crowd, but under the many layers of snark and bitterness, Cat Grant was one hell of a decent human being. It only took one time, one instance of Winn proving that he would stand on a mountain and die for the Foster Child Awareness amendment, to convince Cat to throw the entire weight of her media empire behind the amendment.

**Cafeteria - 8:00 pm Friday**

> So there it was, the Safer Student’s Bill. A multipurpose bill aimed primarily at diseases and mental illnesses affecting students from kindergarten through high school graduation. This was, at the start, a good day because something amazing got done. The problem was, we only thought it was finished because we had an overwhelming number of votes and there was no way, _no way_ the bill wouldn’t pass.
> 
> Going back to Senator Jonzz… If you ever have a free two hours and are so inclined, try standing up without leaning on anything and talking the whole time, and no eating! Not to be rude, but you probably won’t make it—I know _I_ wouldn’t make it. Senator Jonzz wasn’t supposed to last 15 minutes on his feet. He’s 60 years old, with a bum knee, and the flu on top of everything. This bill is going to pass 80 votes to 20. He has no hope and no one seems to know what in the world he’s fighting for! Jonn Jonzz wasn’t supposed to last 15 minutes, but someone forgot to tell the Senator that because he just went into hour number eight.

Kara and Alex sat at a table in the back corner of the cafeteria. Traditionally, staff and the press weren’t supposed to interact without the blessing and guidance of Ms. Grant, but they had quickly made an exception for the Danvers'. Both sisters were the definition of honor and had two of the most powerful women vouching for them so they really didn’t need all the cloak and dagger, but they tried to keep up appearances all the same.

“So what’s the mood in the bullpen?” Alex asked.

“The same as staff I’m assuming,” Kara said around the cookie in her mouth, “no one knows what’s going on with Jonzz or why he’s up there—not like he left us a trail of bread crumbs.”

The pair sat in silence for a few moments just enjoying the other’s presence while they ate and sipped at their third cup of coffee for the day.

“I’m in the middle of an email to Mom,” said Kara, “Did you want me to send anything from you?”

“Nah, I called around 2, but I’m sure she knows we’d rather be there than here.”

Kara chuckled, “Knowing Eliza, she’s probably making everyone watch CSPAN right now.”

They parted ways soon after and Kara went back to her uncomfortable seat near Lena while Alex got comfortable back at her desk. She put her feet up and opened a new email on her laptop.

> Dear Maggie,
> 
> Kara is writing an email to mom to kill time during the filibuster, and it reminded me of those Dear John letters we used to send back in the day. I’m fairly certain mom is keeping you awake to watch CSPAN with the rest of the family—especially since Kara and I are stuck in D.C. for the foreseeable future, so let me tell you about my unbelievable day…


	2. Chapter 2

**Press Secretary’s Office - 11:00 am Friday**

Lena was walking through the bullpen, her arms overflowing with files and reports. She had nearly reached her destination—a shabby little poker table-turned desk—when she saw Winn walking towards her with his face buried in a tablet.

“Winn, I need to talk to you for a second!” She called to him.

Winn blew past her to dump his bag on his desk. “I have to forward some documents to people, give me a second.”

His face was set in a deep scowl and, judging by his wind-swept hair and rosy complexion, he had just come back from Capital hill.

“What’s going on?” She asked, “On or off the record. I don’t care either way, but you look a little overwhelmed.”

“I was _summoned_ by Senator Jonzz from Washington and all he did was drag me into his office, sat me down, and give me a message to tell Cat.”

“Are you telling me—”

“That was all off the record, by the way.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Lena said with a laugh and a smirk. She sat her stack of files down on his desk and made herself as comfortable as humanly possible in his tiny cubical.

“Well, I never know with you guys.”

“Winn, did you just tell me that a _Senator_ threatened you?”

“Good god, no!” Winn exclaimed, finally turning around in his seat to give Lena his undivided attention. “I went to his office, he had me sit down, and then gave me a message for Cat.”

“And what was the message?” At Winn’s hesitance, Lena quickly added, “Off the record, Winn!”

“Yesterday Jonn Jonzz asked to have an audience with a member of senior staff, but was rightly blown off. It was obviously just because he wanted to add an amendment to the Safer Student’s Bill, I think it was something to do with LGBT…Q…I…A? Plus?—did I get all the letters?—It was something abort guidance and emotional support counseling in public schools.”

“I normally just say ‘Queer’ so my readers don’t have to go through every letter of the alphabet. Why did you guys blow him off?”

“Because this is what’s called a Christmas tree bill. Everyone hangs their own amendment on it, but we closed it this morning.”

Lena let out a sigh as she finally understood, “And if you try to hang a star on top, the tree topples over and the bill doesn’t pass.”

“You’re catching on pretty quick for a temp.” Winn said with a comforting smile.

Lena smacked him on the arm. “I am beyond excited to return to my technological hole-in-the-wall when Clark comes back from maternity leave.”

“Yeah, by the way I never asked, but why did they get the executive editor of the ‘science and technology monthly spotlight’ to cover the White House reporter’s job?

“That was quite the mouthful, Winn, did you want to maybe chew and swallow next time?”

“Har, har. Joke all you like, but it’s your own title you’re insulting,” said Winn while turning back to his computer screen.

“Clark asked me personally because he used to know my brother,” Lena said, “I figured it’d be good to get out of New York for a while.”

“Hmm, bad break up or family drama?” He asked without taking his eyes from the screen.

“Why are those my only options?” Winn gave Lena a knowing look, but she powered through, “It was a bit of both, but tell me about Jonzz.”

“Yeah, well, Jonzz is old school and has been in the Senate for decades—longer than I’ve been alive I’d bet.”

Lena couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped her, “You’re barely 20 years old, Winn, that’s not hard to do.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Winn stressed to move them back to the topic at hand, he was a little touchy about his youthful appearance. “He isn’t someone who has a lot of muscle on this sort of thing so we blew him off.”

“And then he summoned you.”

“Yes. He sent my boss a message that said ‘someone’s going to meet with me or there’s not going to be a vote while I’m alive.’ So she sent me to his office.”

**Oval Office - 8:20 pm Friday**

> And if you’re wondering what the President does during a filibuster, I don’t really know because this is her first. At the moment she’s in her private dining room having dinner. You see, there’s this famous French chef visiting, and every time he visits the White House he cooks for the President. And Maggie, I know he’s a world-class chef, but he’s got nothing on your croissant aux abricots.

President Lillian Luthor turned off the TV in the Oval office and walked through the door to the chief of staff’s office. She was greeted by the sight of by her Press Secretary, Cat Grant, reclining with her heels kicked up on the desk and staring at the six flat screen TVs mounted inside a wall cabinet.

“Cat.”

“Madame President.” Cat said without turning her attention from the screen.

“Are you busy?”

“Well, there’s an unpredicted filibuster screwing up my delicate and finely tuned print deadline, I’ve taken the press corps hostage, and I’m seriously thinking about walking over to the Senate floor to throw a book at Jonn’s head.” Cat finally looked up at the President. “What do you need?”

“Come have dinner with me.”

“Why?”

“Jean-Christophe Novelli is cooking tonight. Don’t you want to join me for dinner?”

Cat turned off the three of the TVs and stood up from her chair, “What is he serving?”

“Excuse me?”

“The French guy, what’s he cooking?”

“You’re joking, right?” Lillian stood there unable to believe what was happening right now. “I guess there’s no accounting for taste. The man is a world renowned chef.”

“There’s no reason to be elitist.” Cat said as she grabbed her bag and they both headed out the door on their way to the residences.

“Well, I can tell you that he specializes in a reinterpretation of classic Provençale cuisine. Salade niçoise, _Boeuf bourguignon_ , shrimp bouillabaisse—”

“Does he make cassoulet? I haven’t had a good canard goulu cassoulet in quite some time.” Cat said scrolling through the social media and news feeds on her phone.

“Now who’s being an elitist?” Lillian snarked. “And dessert will be a tomate du saltmbique. Do you know what that is, or were you not raised in high society like the rest of the wealthy one percent?”

“Hmm, let’s see. That’s going to be a seedless beefsteak tomato stewed for hours in crème de caramel and stuffed with passion fruit, kiwi, hazelnuts, and served on a pomegranate reduction.”

“You know, it sounds rather revolting when you describe it like that, aside from the crème de caramel.” Lillian said as they stopped by the bullpen to check on the filibuster one last time. “Could Jonn be a bigger ass?”

“He’s a curmudgeon,” Cat said as they continued their walk, “a grouchy old crank.”

“Just like us, then.”

“ _Just_ like us.”

They silently continued their short walk upstairs to the smallest of the residential dining rooms.

Cat stopped abruptly as they reached the dining room seeing as it was lit exclusively by candlelight.

“I completely forgot about the damn candles, they always do it.” Lillian said.

“Well,” sad Cat, “it’s a good thing we’re not paranoid homophobes in any way.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Darling. You know we would never last as a couple.”

“Indeed.” Cat agreed with a smirk. “The world wouldn’t be able to handle us.”

They made their way to the table and sat across from one another; Cat still on her phone and Lillian already pouring herself a large glass of deep red wine.

Cat’s cell phone ring broke the comfortable silence and she answered immediately.

“Cat, you have an assistant who is, quite frankly, a lot smarter than you are.”

Cat paused her phone call to send the President a glare and said, “You really want to test me right now, Lillian?”

“Whatever it is, let your boy handle it.”

“And who do you think I’m talking to right now?”

The sarcasm alone dripping from Cat’s question could strip paint, but the President simply took another long sip of wine. Cat finished her call and finally set her phone facedown on the table as the first course was brought out.

“What did he have to say?”

“There’s no end in sight.”

**Briefing Room 9:00 pm Friday**

> So I don’t know whatever it was that made Cat Grant not take the Jonzz threat seriously, but whatever the reason, it’s time to take it seriously because he’s gassing me out of time. I’ve got until the 11:59 pm print deadline, and there’s no way, there’s no way he goes another two hours.
> 
> There’s no way.

“Whatcha writing?” Winn’s voice cut through the din of hundreds of bored reporters in the room.

“It’s an email to my mother. I’m not going to be able to get to Midvale this weekend until after family Thanksgiving.”

“That’s too bad,” he said sincerely and sat down close to her and Lena. “Although it does seem like a good way to kill time while this is going on.”

He got out his own laptop and settled in for the foreseeable future writing an email of his own to his father.

“You gonna write to anyone, Lena?” Winn said tongue in cheek.

Lena threw a crumpled napkin at his face. “You know there’s no one I want to talk to besides you two tonight.”

The group talked of nothing important and laughed for a bit, but eventually the conversation died as people came and went and Winn eventually went back to his email.

> The message Cat got from Jonzz was pretty cryptic, like something you’d slip to a bank teller if you were gonna rob the joint. And it was really strange to get it directly from a Senator; normally they send some low-life aide like me. Cat was right to send me in her steed, but she wasn’t really concerned.
> 
> So off I went to the hill—wearing, by the way, those new shoes you sent me which landed me on my butt not fourteen feet from Senator Jonzz’s office. Since you’re such a history nut, I’ve taken the liberty of asking my friend, Lena (she’s a temporary White House reporter) to look up some filibuster facts for you: ‘The filibuster has been part of parliamentary strategy in this country for over a hundred years.’ By the way, Dad, Lena says hello.
> 
> Anyway, the reason Cat wasn’t sweating Jonzz is that Jonzz isn’t someone you sweat. He’s been around forever, but he’s got little influence, little power, and few friends willing to fall on their sword for him. He’s one of the last true ‘man of the people’ guys. I’m telling you, Dad, the man hasn’t changed at all since before I worked in his building, but he gets unanimously elected each and every time. I’m pretty sure people have even stopped running against him. His state loves him and if I didn’t know the man personally I’d claim mind control.
> 
> Lena is handing me another useless—I mean, useful—flashcard: ‘The word filibuster comes from the Dutch vrijbuiter, which translates literally to freebooter.’ I think what she really meant was something more along the lines of ‘buccaneer.’

**Office of Senator Jonn Jonzz - 11:30 am Friday**

Winn walked into the quaint office foyer of Senator Jonzz and dropped his coat on the standard issue loveseat bench by the door. The secretary was on the phone when he entered, but she waved him over for a piece of chocolate. Winn had started as the I.T. boy for this wing of the building in high school and apparently they had remembered him. Senator Jonzz stepped out of his private office just as Winn had plopped the offered Hershey Kiss into his mouth.

“Hewoo, Senbaleur.” Winn managed to get out while quietly being stared down by Jonn Jonzz, who managed to still look quite regal and threatening while in the midst of a coughing fit.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Schott,” Jonzz said before retreating back to his desk, “Get in here.”

“Sounds like a bad cold you’ve got there, Senator.”

“I’m fine, Mr. Schott. I’ve been fighting colds and much more on the Senate floor for longer than you’ve been alive. Now sit.”

“Yes, sir.” Winn sat in the tiny and uncomfortable chair across from Jonn’s hundred-year-old solid wood, hand-carved desk made by Grandfather Jonzz—it was something of a legend in the building. “Are you taking any medication, sir?”

“I don’t want to talk about my cold. I want 47 million dollars to support LGBT children in schools.”

“Sir…” Winn petered off as Jonn battled another series of coughs.

“Five universities with specialized programs in training psychologists to treat suicidal and at-risk youth to students in middle and high school, three specialized units to train teachers and educators in proper _inclusive_ sex education, anti-bulling, and grant incentives for creating and _maintaining_ school-sponsored Queer social clubs at the middle and high school level.”

“Senator, we can’t do it.” Winn said as Jonn meticulously cleaned his glasses.

“Of course you can. You simply pick up the phone, call your boss—who should’ve been here in the first place—and she’ll make it known to the Conference Chairman that—”

“Sir, the bill started at two billion dollars and now it’s just over six.”

“Yes, I know. Which is quite strange when you consider that this bill aimed at mental health issues affecting students now has amendments allocating funds for Alzheimer’s, glaucoma, and Veteran’s PTSD. Do you know a lot of students afflicted with any of those conditions?”

“Well, actually, PTSD is—” Winn had known this was going to go off the rails, but not like this. Maybe that was why Cat sent her lackey instead of going toe-to-toe with Senator Jonzz herself. “There’s no doubt that’s a good point, but in order for the White House to ensure that more important things got put into the bill, decisions had to be made.”

“So a determination was made in order of priority and importance?”

“Yes, sir, and now the bill’s closed. There’s going to be a vote.”

Jonzz was quiet for a long moment before saying; “And Cat wants the story before everyone goes home for the holidays.”

“Everyone’s breaking for recess and if we reopen the bill—”

“That’s all, Mr. Schott. I’m done with you now.”

“Sir?” Winn rose from his seat as the Senator stood up and threw open the door. Jonn didn’t say anything, he just waved his had dismissively at Winn as he ushered the boy out of his office.

**Briefing Room 9:10 pm Friday**

> And that was that, Dad. Cat and I didn’t think much about the meeting with Jonzz. There are always going to be people who don’t get what they want in Congress.

“Hey, Winn?” Lena’s voice pulled him back to the briefing room.

“What’s up?”

“Does the office of the Press Secretary record the news feeds of the five major networks?”

“…Yes.” Winn said slowly trying to figure what she was on about.

“Where can I get a dub of the B-roll they’re showing on CNBC? There’s a three or four second clip from a campaign stop and his grand children are with him.”

“Yeah, let me go pull you a copy.” Winn got up and walked back to his desk in the Press Secretary office to get the footage for Lena.

“What’s the problem with the footage?” Kara asked.

“Jonzz is standing there with his two granddaughters in front of him, but there are three girls in the frame.”

“And you want to know who the third girl is.”

“Yes,” said Lena, “especially since no one is mentioning her presence. And it can’t be another daughter or granddaughter because, and I don’t mean to sound xenophobic or anything but, well…”

“She’s not black.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Briefing Room 10:30 pm Friday**

Kara walked over to where Lena had set up shop at Winn’s desk to look over the footage. She initially came over for more pizza, but a thought passed her mind at the last second and she didn’t want to chicken out.

“Hey, Lena?”

“Hey, Kara?” Lena joked back without looking up. “What’s up, buttercup?”

“Cute.”

“Thanks.” Lena finally looked up from her stack of papers. “I like to put in a little effort when a cute girl walks over to ask me out.”

“Wait… what? No, psftfff, no. I-I come over for pizza, Lena.” Kara felt her cheeks heat and the stutter of her heartbeat was almost as bad as her speech. “Okay, yes. But! I just wanted to see if you would be up for some breakfast when this is all over.”

“Classy,” Lena smirked, “I like it. Pick a place and I’ll meet you there.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes?” Lena tilted her head and really looked at Kara’s bemused expression. “Kara, we’ve been eating lunch together for the past month, I moved my seat in the press room so I could talk to you, I know how important food is to you so I always order extra, and… and you’ve been picking up on none of that, have you?”

“….No!” Kara finally managed to get out.

“Well, that explains quite a lot actually…” Lena said. “But moving on, remember how I was looking into that third daughter?”

“Wait, no ‘moving on,’ can’t we talk about this? How did I miss everything?”

“I don’t know and yes, we’ll talk over breakfast tomorrow, but in the meantime a man is about to collapse…” Lena gestured to the computer monitor where the news footage was playing on loop.

"Right! What did you find?" Kara picked up a slice of pizza and nodded for Lena to begin explaining her research.

“Okay,” Lena paused the footage as the Jonzz family smiled for a family photo. “Here’s Senator Jonzz, his wife, two sons, and the two granddaughters.”

“Right, and the other girl in the middle?”

“I looked into some records and made a few phone calls. Turns out that is his _daughter_.”

“He legally adopted a daughter without anyone knowing?” Kara asked.

“Yes, but not many people noticed because she didn’t change her name, is almost never seen with him, and apparently had already been living with his son’s family for two years before she was legally adopted by the Senator.”

Kara was tired, she had been awake for 36 or so hours and working through all of them, dealing with a raging boss screaming about print deadlines, and worried about ruining her mother’s Thanksgiving weekend plans.

“Lena, I’m sorry,” Kara said as she dragged her hand down her face and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Can you explain what I’m looking at because I’m definitely lost.”

“His granddaughter, the older one, Jessica, and the adopted daughter, her name is Courtney, both attend Oregon State. They’re roommates and they’ve been living off campus in an apartment together since they were freshmen. Courtney got adopted by Senator Jonzz as a high school senior, but she moved in with the son’s family back when she was a junior.”

“Lena, I know I’m new as a reporter, but can you please explain why this is important? I’m getting lost in the branches of this family tree.”

“I don’t think this filibuster is what we think it is. I don’t think Jonzz is just being ornery. I think his granddaughter is dating her roommate and I think Courtney’s parents kicked her out of her home and she was adopted by Senator Jonzz.”

“Good golly!”

“Um, yeah,” Lena said with a chuckle. She doubted the blonde had cursed more than once or twice that year in total. “We need to get Winn to call Cat.”

**Dining Room of the Residences - 10:30 pm**

Lillian poured herself yet another glass of wine as Cat took her third phone call of the evening.

“Did you hear that Canada is trying to hold a peace conference with Israel and Palestine?” Lillian asked.

Cat was still speaking into her phone, “Yeah, hold on.” She covered the microphone with her hand and turned towards the President. “Did you say something?”

“Nothing” Lillian replied and Cat returned to her phone call. “I’m sure they’re going to have the same luck we did, which is to say none at all.”

Their desserts were brought out and Lillian waste no time digging into hers. Cat hadn’t noticed the new addition to their table and continued with her phone call.

“I just feel like we don’t talk anymore.” Lillian mumbled between bites.

“Tell James he needs to put on his big boy pants at some point.” Cat said into the phone before turning once again to Lillian. “What?”

“See you’re not even listening.”

“Let me call you back.” Cat said and hung up the phone. “What’s the problem, Lillian?”

“I’m just saying we work all day, and then the day’s over and we go out to dinner and you’re still working, and you know, I’m sitting here. No time to talk like we used to before all this started.”

“You know,” Cat said while pouring herself a second glass of wine, “conversations like this are exactly the reason why I got divorced.”

Cat’s phone rang again and she didn’t even hesitate to pick it up. While most people would be terrified of getting on the President’s bad side, Cat never bothered to care. She knew she could walk away at any time and she prided herself on doing her job, and doing it right—regardless of how many headaches Congress and the President caused for her.

“What now, Winn?” There was a brief pause where Lillian saw Cat’s face go from bored to annoyed before settling on shocked. She hung up the phone and rose from the table. “That was Winn. Jonzz’ granddaughter is queer and he adopted the girlfriend after she was disowned by her family and kicked out of the house.”

They were halfway out of their chairs before Lillian said, “Get them up here.”

**Oval Office - 10:40 pm Friday**

After telling Winn about what they found he immediately called Cat. Not long after that Kara found herself and Lena being dragged through the bullpen, past the Roosevelt room, and straight into the Oval office.

“How does he not tell me?!” A loud voice called from just outside the room. Kara didn’t even get a chance to mentally prepare herself before the President of the United States stormed into the room followed closely by her former boss, Cat Grant.

“Madame President—” Winn tried to get her attention, but all in vain. She was in full rant mode and there was clearly no stopping her. Kara had experienced this before while working as Cat’s personal assistant, but she had never prepared herself for two whirlwinds going off in the same office.

“How does he not come to me and say ‘Lillian this is my granddaughter and my daughter and there are lots of kids going through this shit. Can you help us out?’”

“Because he—” Cat’s turn to interrupt didn’t fair much better than Winn’s but it did turn the President’s attention to her.

“God dammit, Cat. He knows we would’ve gotten it done. Why doesn’t he tell me these things?”

“Because he doesn’t want to make political hay out of his family,” Cat shouted right back, “which, as you well know is quite commendable.”

“He’s still a jackass.”

“Good evening, Madame President!” Winn shouted.

Lillian Luther had crossed the room to pace behind her desk during the half-rant, half-conversation between the two women. It looked like she finally realized they were not alone in the Oval office and her eyes stayed locked on Lena’s face for sometime before the younger woman said;

“Good evening, Mother.”

Kara was convinced that her jaw had bounced off the floor as a result of dropping so fast. That was the only reasonable explanation for why her mouth was currently glued shut.

“What are you doing here, Lena?” Lillian asked, the frustration and anger completely draining from her body.

“The White House Correspondent for The Daily Planet is out on maternity leave and he asked me personally to take his role for the time being.”

Winn took this moment of stiff silence to speak up, “That message from Jonzz earlier today was real. He’s not going to stop until he collapses.”

The President’s anger and frustration was back in full force at the mention of Jonzz’s name and she slowly stalked around the desk while lecturing Winn.

“Let me tell you something, young man. Don’t you _ever_ underestimate the willpower of a grandparent. We’re crazy people—we don’t give a damn. We’ll make enemies, we’ll break laws, we’ll break bones if we have to, but you will not mess with our grandchildren.”

“Yes, Madame President.” Poor Winn looked like he was about to pee his pants.

Cat chimed in to save him. “There was quite a bit of wine with the President’s dinner tonight.”

“Cat, if I told you to throw the print deadline out the window what would you want to do right now?” Lillian asked.

“I’d help the poor bastard out,” she replied, “He’s been standing for nearly 11 hours by now.”

“How are we going to help?” asked Winn. “The Chairman’s going to gavel him off if he stops talking or sits.”

Kara knew exactly how to help. Her mother had been a senator for two terms before retiring to work at the local health clinic. Kara had gone through high school watching CSPAN while doing her homework after school.

She raised her hand, still standing uncomfortably in the back of the room next to Lena. “Um, excuse me?”

“What the hell are you doing, Kiera?” Cat asked.

“I didn’t know if I was supposed to…”

“We normally don’t raise our hands to talk.” Winn whispered in an attempt to console her.

“Uh, sorry Madame President, but, uh…I know how to help,” she tentatively said, “He’s allowed to yield for a question without yielding the floor.”

Everyone turned from her to the President.

“I was in the House of Representatives, I know nothing of Senate rules.”

“Yes, Madame President, but see, my mother was in the Senate for a while and she likes to explain things, and, well, I usually pay attention.”

Lena took this opportunity to speak up. “I’m pretty sure it’s true, but we can always ask Lex.”

“The problem is,” Kara said, “the only people allowed to ask questions are Senators.”

“We’re going to get one of them to walk in there.” The President responded.

“How?” Winn asked. “The Senate wants to go home. They want a vote.”

But Winn’s question was a moot point as Cat was already in spin mode. “We’re going to call some senators. Winn, I need you to get senior staff on this right away. Start with Lex, but then move on to the other 99 who hate us.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He said as he raced towards the door.

“Winn!” Lena called and stopped him in his tracks. “You’ll want to start with the ones who have openly queer family members or have supported these issues in the past.”

“Got it!” and just like that he was gone.

“Cat, I’m not messing around,” said Lillian, “make this happen.”

**Oval Office - 11:00pm Friday**

> And then came the big moment, Mom. Everyone was enlisted. You called anyone you had a relationship with and if you didn’t get anywhere, they got a call from the president. We’d been at it for 20 minutes and we were coming up with nothing, until…

“He’s walking over now!” Lena called amongst the chaos. We put everyone on hold or hung up in our haste to stand by one of the TV’s in the communications bullpen across from the lobby.

Lena Luthor—one of _those_ Luthors as Kara had recently learned—had gotten ahold of her brother Lex, the Senator of New York. He didn’t even have time to throw on a jacket and tie before racing over from his office to the senate floor. They could see him enter on the live news feed, a tall built man with a shaved head, panting and out of breath like he had just run the anchor position of a relay. His shirt was rumpled and hastily tucked in, but he stood tall and walked confidently through the large, empty room.

They stared, silently, at the screens wondering if he would be able to pull this off. The problem, of course, was that Jonzz would have to know as much about rules and procedures as Kara did and not think the White House was trying to screw him over.

And then it happened.

“Point of order, Mr. Chairman!” Lex called having made it to his assigned seat in the back row.

“Senator Luthor?” the Chairman responded as he picked his head up from its resting place on his hand.

“Will the Senator from Washington yield for a question?” Lex asked.

“Come on.” Winn prayed under his breath.

“Trust me just this once, you stubborn old bastard.” President Lillian mumbled.

As the cameras panned back to Jonzz, the communications bullpen was so quiet you could hear the person standing next to you breathing.

“Mr. Chairman… I… I yield to the Senator from New York for a question.” Kara could see the hesitance in his face and body language. He wanted to trust Lex, but he was clearly skeptical of his motives.

“Mr. Jonzz, my question is in 15 parts and there’s quite a bit of background information I need to share so this might take quite a while. Perhaps you’d like to sit and have some water while I ask it.”

The bullpen exploded with cheers. Kara took one last look at the screen before she was tackled in a hug from Lena who was cheering alongside Winn and the other White House staffers.

On the TV, Kara watched as Jonn Jonzz wiped a few hidden tears from his face with the back of his hand.

**Briefing Room– around 12:00 am Saturday**

> And that was it, Mom. Lex Luthor, son of President Lillian Luthor, gave him a much-needed rest and an opportunity to answer some real questions about the struggles of queer youth in this country. And when Lex had finished, Mrs. Tanner from Nevada took over with her wife standing by her side, after her came Mr. Duke who discussed new restroom policies for his son, and Mr. Evered with questions texted to him from his asexual son.

**Office of the Press Secretary - 12:00 am Saturday**

> I’m going to have to finish this up now, Dad, and assist Ms. Grant as she explains what happened. There won’t be a vote tonight and the Senate will go home for the long weekend. Since Jonzz, with our help, blew the print deadline anyway, there’s really no reason for the White House _not_ to go back to the Conference Chairman and reopen the bill.
> 
> There are so many days here where you can’t imagine that anything good will ever happen. You’re buried under a black fog of partisanship and self-promotion and stupidity and a brand of politics that’s just plain mean.

**Oval Office - 12:00 am Saturday**

> Yes, reopening the bill will probably lead to other amendments being added and yes, learning about Lena’s familial connection to the White House is quite the pill for Kara to swallow—especially after asking her out not an hour earlier, but that’s for tomorrow. As for tonight… Maggie, I saw a man with no legs stay standing in a room under enormous pressure on behalf of his daughter and granddaughter. I saw a brother, who’s never spoken out before, keep shouting in an empty room on behalf of his sister—just begging people to listen.
> 
> If politics brings out the worst in people then maybe people bring out the best in politics. I’m looking at the TV right now and I’ll be damned if 28 U.S. Senators didn’t just walk onto the floor to lend their voice to the cause.

**Briefing Room - 12:00 am Saturday**

> Alex and I will catch the first plane out in the morning and if you wouldn’t mind saving some of that delicious turkey for us that’d be great.
> 
> Love you lots,
> 
> Kara


End file.
